Maintain your Hope for it is the Tree of Life

Proverbs 13:12Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.

Hi everybody,

This is going to be rather a short reflection today but I just wanted to say that when we are hoping for something, we can face so much in our life that causes this hope to singe out like a flickering light that burns out like a dying flame.

Hope is a flameand in order to keep it burning, we have to fuel this flame with Faith.

Now, I know that in certain situations where people face serious adversities such as war, famine, terrorism, threats of death, slavery, abuse, human rights violations, loss of loved ones, grief, etc, such hope seems dismal if not completely and virtually non-existent in ones experience to such painful circumstances. Fear traps a heart in this sickness where hope is devoid in a person. When hope comes, the heart heals because it is given reason to believeagain. This is the tree of life that is spoken about in this verse posted above from the book of Proverbs. Jesus is the Tree of life for us since He is the True Vine and we are His Branches extended to do the same for our brothers and sisters since we have Christ in us the HOPE of Glory (John 15:1-8). It is our mandate to be the hope that this world needs to see in our lifetime.

Romans 5:2
through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hopeof the gloryofGod.

Colossians 1:27
To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, thehopeofglory.

The Truth of the Word is the resurrecting power of the Word that we need to use in our lives to fuel hope in people’s hearts. A longing fulfilled is a tree of life but when hope is absent, the heart suffers crumbling Faith that is devoid of such hope. So when you see someone struggling, when you see the fire in their eyes dimming because of that loss of hope, when you see the anguish and pain of anothers suffering that sees no hope of relief, no hope of salvation, no reason to continue living, God expects us to be faithful enough to step in to fuel that fire of hope in a person again.

This is how we intercede for someone by stepping in the Gap through prayer and action.

This is the faith that drives us to life individuals back to life since according to the Word we are not only Sons of God but we are alsoSons of the Resurrection. So I challenge you today to be the hope for a persons sick heart today. The Resurrecting power of Christ is in us to fulfill this mandate because Jesus blessed us with the help of the Holy Spirit to satisfy this call.

Hope stirs people to believewhere unbelief was present.

Hope stirs faithin people where there was lack.

Hope brings back to life all that seems dead, so as joint heirs with Christ, we must strive to be the hope that this world needs to see.

'THE TRUE VINE' by Anthony James

Hope can only be demonstrated by action. It could be something small like a telephone call, a word of encouragement, a word of knowledge, a visitation, a donation, an embrace, a listening ear, a kind and gentle gesture, a letter, or a helping hand (volunteering), etc. Hope in action is Love in action and perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18).

If a person has no reason to believe in anything anymore, it is because they have yet to experience this level of Love and this level of hope that can restore ones Faith to believe again.

When I had suicidal thoughts a few years ago, it was because I thought everything was hopeless. But when I pressed on holding onto that one last shred of hope left within me with the little but dying faith I had, it was this hope that I held onto which was that nearly dying flame that maintained my faith in the end. If that flame had blown out during the darkest moments in my life, I think I would not be here today typing up this post to be at least that voice that cries out for another to still keep your faith alive! Keep your hope alive no matter what! So today, I just want to let you know that no matter how bleak your situation may seem, no matter how many people may fail you in this life, keep holding onto that last shred of hope you have in the Lord even in your most painful of circumstances. That shred of hope could mean the difference beween life or death and when I mean Life or death, I mean yours.

Love preserves Life through demonstrated Hope in Action.

Jesus loved us enough to die for us in order to be the hope that we needed to see in this life so that we could be redeemed. We all have that redemptive power in Christ to life people back to life with that same Spirit of hope in us. This Spirit is the HOLY SPIRIT also known as the Helper (John 14:26; John 16:7; John 15:26; John 14:16).

Be that Light that Shines in the Darkness because that Light is what fuels greater Faith.

I have a song for you today to minister to you from Kirk Franklin called Better from his Hero CD. Stay blessed everybody!

Scriptures to Meditate

Proverbs 11:30The fruit of the righteous is a treeoflife, And he who wins souls is wise.

Luke 20:35-37

35 But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; 36 nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. 37 But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’

John 1:5
And thelightshinesinthedarkness, and thedarkness did not comprehend it.

John 8:12Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am thelightoftheworld. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have thelightof life.”

Hi Sherline,
I love Banksy pics and Kirk Franklin so your post made me smile.
I heard Kirk interviewed recently on daystar TV and he was an inspiration.
Thanks for this post. It reminds me of my post on hope a while ago.
Of the 3 Faith, Hope and Love very few people preach on or talk about hope.
Have a blessed day
F

If will live without faith and we cannot please God without faith, than we cannot please God either if we do not try to be the Hope that births Faith in the first place. We need to become Hope in order to have Faith that pleases God because God sees how destructive it is to see a person devoid of hope. The hope in us should give another Faith as God intended from the very beginning.

You always give so many wonderful scriptures to fill out your meditations, Sherline. This one today is the one I choose to concentrate on:”Hope in action is Love in action and perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18).” Faith truly is the fuel to keep the flame of Hope burning bright. We join together to share our LIght and enhance each other’s journeys.

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